Vending machine



' Jan. 29, 1929.

F. MccLURE I l vEmDING MACHINE Filed Jan. 4. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented Jan. 29, 1929.

UNITED- STATES rarer FLOYD MCCLURE, OF HUNTERSVILLE, NORTH CARLINA.

VENDING MACHINE.

Application filed January 4,1927. Serial No. 158,886.

This invention relates to a machine designed vprimarily for vending bottles containing soft drinks, one of the objects being to provide a receptacle for a refrigerant in IS which the bottle holding mechanism is` located, coin controlled means being employed whereby the bottle holding mechanism can be released for actuation to deliver a single bottle.

A further object is to provide a structure of this character which is simple and compact in construction, formed of the minimumnumber of parts, and is capabley of extension so Y that the number of bottles that can be stored at one time within the apparatus can be practically without limit.

A further object is to provide simple and efficient means for indicating the number of bottles remaining in the apparatus.

With the foregoing and other object-s in View which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter 'described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the' invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed, wit-hout departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawings,

Figure 1 is aA front elevation of the apparatus.

Figure 2 is a section on line 2 2, Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal section showing the interior mechanism in elevation, a. part of one of the bottle carrying wheels being broken away and one of the bottles being shown in the act of being delivered.

Figure 4l is a front elevation of the mechanism within the housing of the machine, said housing being` shown in section.

Figure 5 is a section through the coin carrier, the actuating disk cooperating therewith being also shown.

lll

Referring to the figures by characters of tation within the housing 1 and secured to this shaft so as to rotate therewith is a bottle conveying and holding wheel made up of spaced disks 5 and 6 connected at regular intervals by cross strips 7. Thus bottle receiving cells 8 are provided inl the wheel, these cells being arranged in an annular series. The hub 9 of the wheel, located between the disks 5 and 6, constitutes an abutment for theinner ends of the bottles seated inthe cells, as shown particularly in Figure 3. One of the disks 5 of the wheel constitutes a gear, the said gear (disk 5) meshing with a small gear 1,0 secured to a transverse shaft 11. A disk 12 is also secured to the shaft l11 and is provided at regular intervals with blocks 13 each of which constitutes a. coin receiver, each block having a fla-redl opening 11i in the outer end portion adapted to deliver a coin inwardly into a slot 15 opening through the bottom of the block. A disk 16 is journaled on the spring 22. Slot 21 is of'such length as to properly limit the rotation of the disk 16 so that during each complete downward movement of lever 2O within the slot 21, the shoulder 17 will be rotated a distance equal to the distance between two adjoining blocks 113. A coin chute 23 opens through the front -wall of the housing 1 and is inclined downwardly to a. point close to the path of the outer ends of the blocks 13. The lower end of this chute is so located that when the blocks are vat rest, one of them will be positioned to receive a coin within the flared opening 14, as shown particularly in Figure 3. It will be noted that the marginal portion of the disk 16fworks within the slots 18 in the inner ends of the blocks. Consequently these slotted ends of the blocks constitute means for holding-the disk 16 properly assembled relative to the disk l2 so that the parts are maintained in proper operative relation without requiring the-use of any additional means for this purpose.

A spool 24 having a tape 25 rolled thereon is mounted within the housing close to the front wall thereof and near a sight opening26 in the wall. The tape is extended across this ma v opening and over guide rollers 27 to a winding wheel 2S carried by the shaft 1l. On this tape are numbers arranged consecutively from l upward, these numbers indicating the number of cells in the wheel carrying the bottles. For example iii there are twenty cells in the wheel, the numbers will range from 1 to 20 and they are so spaced apart that each timeV the wheel is given a partial rotation as hereinafter explained, a number will appear in the opening 26 to indicate how many bottles remain in the housing. j f

A coin receiver 29 is located below the coin carrying wheel and arranged outside of the lower portion. of the housing` is a bottle receiver 30. An opening' 31 communicates with this receiver and is normally closed by an outwardly .swinging door 32. An arcuate retaining plate 33 is arranged beneath the bottle carrying wheel so as to retain bottles in the lower portion of the wheel and this plate extends up to an inclined plate 3l extending downwardly to the bottom ot the opening 31.

In practice the cover 35, of the housing is raised and bottles are placed successively within the cells 8, these bottles being indicated at B. The spool 24: can be spring controlled like a curtain roller so as to automati* cally wind the tape 25 thereon when the bottle containing wheel is rotated backwardly during the filling operation. Thus after all oit the cells 8 have been filled the numeral appearing in the opening 26 will indicate the entire number of bottles in the housing. When it is' desired to dispense a bottle a coin oi' the-proper value is inserted into the chute 23 and will slide into the flared opening 14- of the block at the lower end of the chute. rlhe coin will gravitate into the slot 15 and assume a position across slot 18, the lo-wer portion of theedge of the coin resting on the periphery of the disk 16- close to and in front of the path of the shoulder 17. The customer then depress'es lever 20 so as to cause the disk 16 to rotate. Consequently shoulder 1'? will come against the projecting portion of the coin which thus serves to lock the disk 16 to the coin carrying wheel. Therefore the coin carrying wheel will be moved to carry the coin from its upper position to an intermediate position, this movement being sulicient to rotate shaft 11 and gear 10 so as to bring one of. the bottle containing cells to position above the chute 34. Consequently the bottle in said cell will gravitate along the chute and against the door 32. rlhe door will open and the bottle will drop into the receiver 30. l/Vhen the lever 20 is released it will be returned by the spring" 22 to its normal position and the shoulder 17 of disk 16 will assume a position adjacent the next block 13 which Vhas been brought to position under the lower end of chute 23. Should lever 20 be depressed without first inserting a coin, there would be no operation of the mechanism because a coin is necessary to couple disk 16 to the coin carrying wheel and to the shaft 11. As the mechanism is operated by the subsequent insertion of a coin and actuation of the lever, the coin previously inserted will be brought to'positicn where it will gravitate from the block 13 into the coincontainer 29. Each time the bottle carrying wheel is given a partial rotation the number appearing in the opening 26 will be changed to indicate they total number of bottles remaining in the appa ratus.

ln the apparatus shown three bottle carrying wheels have been illustrated, these being arranged side by side on the shaft 4 and indicated generally at X., Y and Z. The wheels are all of the same construction with the en ccption that the lirst wheel X has one of its disks in the form of a gear shown atb whereas the wheels Y and Z do not have gears forming portions thereof. Extending laterally from the wheels are projecting lugs'36 so located that as the last bottle is Vdelivered from the wheel X, the lug 36- on said wheel comes against one of the lugs 36 on thel wheel Y so that further rotation of the shaft l in the manner heretofore explained will result in the transmission of motion from wheel X to wheel Y and, consequently, the first bottle contained in wheel Y will be delivered onn to the chute 34. Y

After the wheel Y has been emptied one of the lugs 36 thereon will come into engagement with one of the lugs or projections 36 on the wheel Z with the result that wheel Z will then begin to emptyits bottles, one at a time by the operation of the mechanism described. can be increased so as to give the apparatus any desired capacit-y. Y

Furthermore where different kinds of beverages are to be dispensed separate groups et dispensing mechanisms can be located in one housing, each group, however, being provided with independent coin controlled mechanism and operating means. Such an arrangement is so obvious that it is not deemed necessary to show or describe the same in detail.

What is claimed is: l i

In a vending machine the combination with a husing and a bottle conveying member,

of a gear movable with said member, a drive gear meshing therewith, a shaft on which the drive gear is mounted, a disk secured 'to said shaft, laterally extendingI blocks on the disk at regular intervals, each block constitutingA a coin receiver, there being a flared opening in the outer end oi each block and a coin rej ceiving slot in the block communicating with the opening, the inner end of each block being :formed with a'slot extending' there through at right angles to the coin receiving slot in the block, 'a sleeve mounted for rctation on the shaft, a disk revolubie therewith Obviously the number oi wheelsy having a radial shoulder adapted to travel within the slots in inner ends of the block, said disk having a cam edge extending therearound from the outer end of the shoulder to the inner end of the shoulder, a lever eX- tending from and adapted to actuate the sleeve and disk, and means for directing a coin into any one of the blocks When brought to a predetermined position, the slots in the inner ends of the block Cooperating with the lo marginal portion of the' shouldered disk to hold said disk properly assembled relative to the block.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, Ihave hereto affixed my signature.

FLOYD MCCLURE. 

